Busting out: Owens, Moss welcomed into Hall of Fame

Terrell Owens and Randy Moss, who took turns as Bay Area lightning rods, are going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame together as two of the NFL’s most productive and controversial wide receivers ever.

Owens and Moss were voted in Saturday with linebackers Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher, as well as a nine-time Pro Bowl safety, that being Brian Dawkins rather than fellow finalist and current 49ers general manager John Lynch.

The enshrinement ceremony will be held Aug. 4 in Canton, Ohio.

Moss, Lewis and Urlacher were first-ballot candidates.

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Former Washington and San Diego general manager Bobby Beathard, grandfather of 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard, got elected as the contributor finalist. Also approved were the two Seniors Committee finalists: former Packers guard Jerry Kramer and Houston Oilers linebacker Robert Brazile.

Owens, snubbed his first two years as a finalist, celebrated Saturday by posting a social-media photo of a black cap with gold letters “HOF” and a caption congratulating his fellow classmates, saying “We’re GOLDEN!” It was a tame celebration compared to some from Owens’ playing days that involved popcorn, pom poms, a Sharpie pen and two infamous trips to the Dallas Cowboys midfield logo.

Moss is the first wide receiver to make it through on the first ballot since Jerry Rice in 2010. Moss’ low point of his career may have come at the end of his two-year tenure with the Raiders from 2005-06. Whereas Owens played the first eight years of his 15-year career with the 49ers (1996-2003), Moss emerged from a one-year hiatus and ended his career amid the 49ers’ 2012 run to Super Bowl XLVII.

When Owens got snubbed last year — he failed to make the cut from 15 to 10 — he ripped the voting process a “total joke.” “Honestly, doesn’t mean anything to me to get in beyond this point,” Owens tweeted last February.

The 49ers, who Owens condemned earlier this week, nevertheless congratulated him Saturday. “Terrell Owens gave our organization eight great seasons of service and some terrific memories that will live on in 49ers lore,” CEO Jed York said in a statement. “He is one of the most accomplished wide receivers in the history of the NFL, and very deserving of this selection to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”

Owens left the 49ers after 2003 in a botched attempt at free agency, ultimately landing with the Philadelphia Eagles in an arbitration-brokered deal with the Baltimore Ravens. From there, Owens went on to the Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals.

Owens ranks second all-time with 15,934 receiving yards, trailing only Rice’s 22,895 yards. Owens and Moss each had 153 touchdown receptions — the most behind Rice’s 197 — before Moss resumed his career in 2012 and caught three more touchdowns for the Super Bowl-bound 49ers.

Rice tweeted congratulations “for the Hall” to his fellow receivers, and before Saturday’s vote, he called them “two of the most explosive receivers to play the game.”

Moss spent two seasons on the Raiders, producing 1,005 yards and eight touchdowns on their 4-12 team in 2005 before tallying just 553 yards and three touchdowns the next year on a 2-14 wreck. But Moss rebounded in 2007, setting a NFL record with 23 touchdown catches as the New England Patriots went undefeated before falling in the Super Bowl.

“The door knocked and I started getting excited,” Moss said of Hall of Fame President David Baker alerting him he has been elected. “All the emotions caught the best of me because it’s been a long journey and it ends in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tears of joy.”

Moss and Rice are the only players to post at least 10 seasons of over 1,000 receiving yards. In Moss’ swan song with the 49ers, he caught 28 of 50 targets for 434 yards and three touchdowns in the regular season; he had no touchdown catches in the playoffs.

Unlike the past two years, Lynch did not make Saturday’s cut from 15 to 10 finalists, according to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco, who served on the selection panel and presented Owens’ case. The five who made the Top 10 but not final approval were cornerback Ty Law and offensive linemen Tony Boselli, Alan Faneca, Steve Hutchinson, and Kevin Mawae, Maiocco reported.

Lynch was “disappointed but humbled” to be a five-time finalist for a 15-year career that bred nine Pro Bowls, three All-Pro First Team accolades and a Super Bowl win. A year ago, Lynch left his Fox Sports analyst gig and became the 49ers general manager, aligning with new coach Kyle Shanahan in rebuilding a franchise that opened 0-9 but ultimately closed on a five-game win streak.

Lewis and Urlacher played their entire careers with their original teams, Lewis leading the Baltimore Ravens from 1996 to 2012 and Urlacher serving from 2000-12 as the Bears’ most revered player since their 1985 Super Bowl-winning team. Dawkins established himself as a play-making safety with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1996-2008 before ending his career with the Denver Broncos from 2009-11.

The Hall of Fame’s 48-person selection committee started debating at 7 a.m. CT and took nearly eight hours to formulate this year’s class.

Two days prior to the enshrinement ceremonies will be the Hall of Fame Game, and it conceivably could include the 49ers, who haven’t played in that exhibition opener since 2000.